Hazard High School Principal Donald “Happy” Mobelini and two other staffers were given written reprimands by the district in late October, one day after a homecoming event with male students simulating lap dances and female students pretending to serve beer while wearing Hooter’s t-shirts.
Mobelini, who has been the mayor of Hazard since 2018, and was seen smiling in social media photographs of the event, and staff members Larry Thacker and Joshua Hurt, all received the same reprimand for unprofessional conduct.
That was on October 27, one day after a “man pageant” in the school gym. Thacker and Hurt’s positions were not specified in the letters.
The three written reprimands were identical. They said that on October 26, Mobelini, Thacker and Hurt exhibited “poor professional judgment in that you allowed a student led skit to reach an inappropriate level.”
“This action placed the school district in a situation of legal liability and cast it in a poor light,” the letter said.
The letter said the unprofessional behavior would not be tolerated and that the employees were required to maintain a professional work environment conducive to the “educational process.” The three men will have to attend training approved by the school district at their personal expense, according to the reprimands.
Further, similar incidents could result in more disciplinary action, including being fired, the reprimands said. The district also released other documents related to the homecoming event.
A September 30, 2021, email sent to Hazard High School personnel prior to homecoming and released to the Herald-Leader Monday said “per Happy’s request” a sponsor needed to be with their class as they worked on homecoming skits, floats and volleyball and flag football practices. The “man pageant” was described in a school document released to the Herald-Leader.
“Each class will sponsor one boy to compete against the other class representative in evening wear, swim attire and talent,” the document said.
Mobelini has not responded to several requests for comment. Thacker and Hurt declined to comment through a district employee.
As part of a 2011 agreed order with the education professional standards board, Mobelini took 12 hours of training on legal liability for school districts and 12 hours of training in the dangers of alcohol use by teenagers.
In that case, which occurred in 2008, police caught Hazard students drinking on the football field only a few moments after Mobelini left the students. Mobelini, though, received no discipline because he claimed he did not know the students were drinking.
Furthermore, after an October 2017 junior class trip to New York City and Washington, D.C., a female student filed a lawsuit in Perry District Court claiming she was sexually assaulted in a New Jersey hotel room by a drunken male student.
The female claims to have told Mobelini about the incident the following day. She said she was told “it was all her fault” and that she “should not file charges as it would go on the male student’s permanent record.”
The male student, according to the Courier-Journal, admitted to drinking and having sex with the girl but said it was consensual.
Additionally, on the bus ride back to Hazard, the girl sat in the front of the bus while the accused and his male friends sat in the back chanting “Free (boy’s name),” according to the lawsuit. The three chaperones did nothing to stop the boys’ behavior.
The suit alleges negligent supervision and includes teachers Sheena Breeding and Luke Glaser as co-defendants.
By the Lexington Herald-Leader and Ken Howlett, News Director
